Hello everyone, I thought it would be formal and appropriate of me to introduce myself first before I start participating in topics throughout the forums.

I'm Vlad, I recently discovered Classic-Castle by Google search after I sat down and decided to chase down a long-lost childhood wish of mine. As a boy I didn't manage to acquire all the Lego that I had longed for, I only owned a couple of minor sets like 6009 and a few others, I can hardly recall. I was however a child in the late 80s and early 90s so the sets I was infatuated with (as a result of my already developed appreciation for Middle Ages warfare and life) were Lego Castle creations and sets.

I decided this was the year for me to look into this and fulfill my wish and now I am aiming to collect, make and enjoy as much Castle Lego as possible going forward. This has led me to join up on here as it seems to me that this is the centre of the community for this particular theme. I've had a look through all of the content and I must say a great deal of effort has gone into this website so a very well done to the owners. I've also had a look at some of the custom creations and they are amazing and very innovative!

My goal is an ambitious one, it's been a great desire of mine to build the biggest Lego Castle armies ever seen (you've probably heard that a million times), consisting of different factions and designs, consisting of some custom stuff but mainly from around 1984 - 1996, starting with the Crusaders and ending with Royal Knights, I'm not much of a fan of anything after.

I think you're about to become very poor, by the way, if you are planning on surpassing collections like these (not mine, by the way!):

(each one of those chrome swords costs about $1.00 - same for the ovoid shields)

A good rule of thumb is to assume at least $3 ea for generic figs, and more for rarer ones - $10-$20 is not uncommon. Barding for the horses can also get extremely expensive. Now that there is a "new horse" mold, you'll also have to decide if you want to use "classic" steeds or modernize your mounts as well. "New" horses run anywhere from $4-$7 each.

I'm assuming you've discovered http://www.bricklink.com by this point. It will be both your savior and your curse. (I lovingly refer to it as "CrackLink")

Anyway, welcome back from the "Dark Ages" (what we call periods of Lego inactivity around here)! We are glad to have you here

PS - Here is the "Lego Castle Armies" Flickr pool. I'm sure you'll be interested in seeing more from other collectors like I've sampled above! LEGO CASTLE ARMY POOL

I kickstarted my collection this Christmas with 6073 Knight's Castle (with box) and 6057 Sea Serpent (with box) as well as countless Falcon and Crusader knights. Already £230 spent in the space of 2 weeks. I need to slow down, want to do this over time and not go bankrupt in less than a year!

As AK said Fig collecting can get wery expensive... But I can't wait to see what you amass, I absolutely love castle armies. But anyway, welcome to CC and hope you have an awesome time here!

Vladimir wrote:Can you show me these new horses? Don't think I have seen them.

Here is my picture of them in brown(which come in a goodly portion of Lord of the Rings sets), then there are white and black ones planned to be in the Lone Ranger sets sets for release this May! And also I forgot there are two black ones with red eyes on the Lord of the Rings set, 'Attack on Weathertop'.

Hope this helps!

EDIT: Also I forgot to mention that these horses rear and that the horse head armor from the Kingdoms sets Do Not fit on these horses, but that shouldn't be a problem if your doing all 80's and 90's stuff.

Now that that's out of the way - you've set yourself a quite high goal. As AK already mentioned, army building can get expensive, especially if you focus on the 80s and 90s themes (with the Kingdoms line you at least got battle packs that made it pretty easy to build a sizeable army) - Prepare to dump 100s of €/$ on Bricklink.

As someone who also was in the Dark Age for about ten years - heed my warning: pace yourself when buying stuff. It is really easy to spend lot's of money on all the old sets you wished you had when you were young - an AFOLs biggest curse is disposable income

I'm looking forward to seeing your army... maybe do us a favour and document your progress on Flickr or brickshelf so we can see your army grow.

Now that that's out of the way - you've set yourself a quite high goal. As AK already mentioned, army building can get expensive, especially if you focus on the 80s and 90s themes (with the Kingdoms line you at least got battle packs that made it pretty easy to build a sizeable army) - Prepare to dump 100s of €/$ on Bricklink.

As someone who also was in the Dark Age for about ten years - heed my warning: pace yourself when buying stuff. It is really easy to spend lot's of money on all the old sets you wished you had when you were young - an AFOLs biggest curse is disposable income

I'm looking forward to seeing your army... maybe do us a favour and document your progress on Flickr or brickshelf so we can see your army grow.

Thanks for the warning and believe me when I say, I've noticed how addictive it can become so I plan to take it slowly. I'll sign up to Flickr right away and get some photos up asap.

Welcome to CC! As Mitah said, above, the key is to pace yourself. If you try to get a huge army on the order of some of those pics above all at one go, you'll go broke very quickly. OTOH, if you get a little here and a little there, if you are in the hobby for several years you find you've got a huge collection. Watch for good e-bay auctions, clearance sales, and yard sales. Also remember that if you're looking at Bricklink, sometimes you can get the torso for a lot cheaper than the fig - add in some basic legs and a generic head, and there you go. One other suggestion, if you are trying to build an army with different units etc, try taking the same torso, but swapping out the arms, and have different helms, to denote different sections. E.g. have a basic BF torso, but blue arms for the archers and black arms for the foot soldiers, etc.

Vladimir wrote:As a boy I didn't manage to acquire all the Lego that I had longed for, I only owned a couple of minor sets like 6009 and a few others, I can hardly recall. I was however a child in the late 80s and early 90s so the sets I was infatuated with (as a result of my already developed appreciation for Middle Ages warfare and life) were Lego Castle creations and sets.

Sounds a lot like me, but I came back about 10 years earlier.

Anyway, good luck with your collecting and building. Welcome and have fun!

Welcome to the forum. Glad you came back to your childhood hobby. I had a dark age, even though it was a bit shorter and off and on at times. Once I got started on here and flickr I've gotten into it more so then when I was a kid. Starting by getting torsos, heads, or whatever individually can definitely be cheaper and is the first way to go. If I come across any good deals in ebay, bricklink or whatever I'll be sure to let you know. I'm more of a forestmen/dark forest and elf fan, but any type of castle minifigs are welcome. I hope all goes well for ya and the months ahead. And keep us posted on how your army's status!